


A Different Kind of Bounty

by Varewulf



Category: Metroid Series
Genre: F/F, Metroid - Freeform, Yuri, first couple of chapters are just setup, will get to the romance eventually I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-11-01 21:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10930584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Varewulf/pseuds/Varewulf
Summary: Galactic space cadet Valentina was partnered up with newly joined space cadet Samus Aran. Aran was a figure shrouded in mystery, but Valentina was determined to do her best, and hopefully discover some of Aran's secrets. She would have never expected to find what she did, though.





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by a tweet I saw a couple of days ago: https://twitter.com/shmu_h/status/863545250220052480  
> Valentina is an OC by Sarah Almeda ( https://twitter.com/shmu_h ), and I asked if I could use the idea as inspiration for a fic, which I got the okay on.
> 
> This is eventually supposed to be a romance story, but I wanted to take some time to set things up first. Hopefully you'll still enjoy that.  
> Timeline-wise I am keeping things vague even to myself, just thinking it's somewhere between the original Metroid/Zero Mission, and Super Metroid. The safest answer is probably: Don't even worry about it.

"Cadet Valentina, you are hereby assigned to be cadet Aran's partner. We worry Aran may have trouble understanding Galactic Federation regulations."

Samus Aran. The name had already gained a certain amount of fame among the GalFed ranks. Or infamy depending on who you ask. Valentina pondered how she seemed to have heard a lot about Aran, yet knew surprisingly little. Least of all why he decided to join the GalFed forces.

There was the story about Aran taking out a whole Space Pirate base by himself. Several of them, to hear some people tell it. But if there was any proof of this, then Command weren't sharing.

Everyone had seen at least one image of Aran, though. The mysterious orange power armour of unknown origin, the strange arm cannon, the helmet. Yet no one Valentina had met could say they had ever seen Aran without the armour on, or even without the helmet. And she had really tried to talk to anyone she could to get more information before she set out. Command hadn't given her anything beyond the mission briefing, and where she was to meet up with Aran.

Aran's overall shape seemed human enough, but there was plenty of speculation that underneath all that armour was something not human at all.

There were also the jokes that dropping Aran onto a planet was more effective than bombing it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her ship exiting hyperspeed in orbit of the star of the system. Valentina set the Valentroid on course for the designated planet, and started checking her gear.

The armour had all seals and plates intact, and properly connected. Shields had full coverage. Her armaments were properly assembled and in working order. All power-cells were fully charged. No flaws in the helmet, its visor, or how it connected to the armour. The planet they were going to had a breathable atmosphere, but it was still important to make sure the life support systems were fully functional.

And the jump-pack was operational. Valentina was still wary of the jump-pack. Her success rate in training was at only 60%, though she had actually done a little better in the field. A little. She had to turn the armour in for repairs after accidentally smacking into a rock last mission. Thankfully the shields held, but she was sore for days afterwards.

The Valentroid has reached planetary orbit, so Valentina did a final check to make sure she had everything equipped properly before sitting down at the controls to go in for landing.

Valentina was not sure why she was chosen for this. She had a good record, excluding jump-pack accidents, but she wouldn't say her performance had been spectacular or exemplary. She still had a lot to learn. Yet the only answer she got when she asked was: "You have been deemed suitable." Whatever that meant.

When she approached the landing coordinates, she could see Aran's gunship already on the ground. He had arrived first, and his ship certainly made a statement. The same bright orange as his armour, as if he didn't care whether or not he got spotted. Valentina could just barely make out his shape, standing not far from the ship.

She landed at a safe distance, and exited the ship, carrying her helmet with her. She figured it made for a good first impression to let Aran see her face before they start. Unfortunately Aran didn't have the same idea. His helmet was already on, and he was ready to go. Darn, she had hoped to get to see his face. Maybe the rumour that he never took off any part of his armour is true.

The rumours had not prepared her for how tall and imposing he was, though. The images she had seen had lacked any references to get a perspective on that. She swallowed nervously, and put on a brave smile as she walked up to him. He turned towards her. _Yikes, no wonder he doesn't care if anyone sees him coming_ , she thought to herself. He looked invincible, and carried himself as such too. Anyone he came after would be terrified.

She offered her hand in greeting, and after a moment's pause he reached out and shook it.

"Space cadet Aran," she said. "I'm cadet Valentina. The Federation has sent me to help you-"

"I don't need help," Aran said immediately. Even distorted by the helmet, his voice sounded human enough.

"Y-y'see sir, the Federation thinks you might need help understanding Galactic Federation regulations," Valentina said, not backing down. She'd show Aran that she wasn't that easily intimidated. At least not outwardly.

Aran released her hand, and it was impossible to read his reaction underneath that armour. His body language seemed unchanged, as if he didn't actually care.

"Come," he finally said, and turned to head towards their objective. Valentina took a moment to equip her helmet before following. He didn't seem to be much of a talker.

Aran walked really fast, and Valentina had to jog just to keep up with him. Her stamina wasn't bad, and the armour helped make it easier, but she still worried she'd be tired by the time they arrived. Yet she refused to back down. She was not going to be a burden.

Aran turned slightly as if glancing back at her, and slowed down a little. Valentina nearly stumbled from the surprise. Maybe Aran wasn't as cold as he initially seemed. She still had to be quick, but she was able to keep up with Aran more comfortably, and she took the rear-guard.

Their mission was simple. Answer a distress call from a settlement on this planet. They had reported problems with unusually aggressive wildlife, so they were check in at the settlement, then investigate and eliminate the threat.

They would have landed closer if possible, but this was the closest suitable landing place outside of the settlement's own landing pads. GalFed regulations forbade occupying civilian landing pads except in extreme emergency, and the distress call hadn't been that dire. The local guard force were able to protect the settlement, but they weren't sure how long they'd last. Maybe only a couple more weeks at best.

If Valentina was to be perfectly honest, Aran could have probably handled this himself, but regulations stated no cadet should embark on a mission alone. At least two were required. You could never be sure what might happen.

Aran looked like he was walking casually, but Valentina could tell he was ready to spring into action the instant something happened.

Yet their trip to the settlement was entirely without incident. The only wildlife they saw seemed docile enough, and made sure to avoid the two of them. It was a nice-looking world. A decent amount of plant life, interesting-looking trees, and lots of chittering from birds and insects. Most of the animals seemed to be reptilian, but none of them were particularly big. So Valentina wondered what sort of creatures were threatening the settlement.

They crested the final hill and looked down upon the place, Valentina walking up to stand beside Aran. It had a couple dozen buildings, a protective wall, and four farms, two of which were inside the wall. The two outside were not currently occupied, and it seemed like the crops had been hastily harvested, but otherwise they didn't appear particularly damaged. There were a couple of sections of the wall that looked like they'd been hit hard, though.

After getting a good overview of the place, they headed down towards the closest gate. There were two people in the guard tower who spotted them, and called out.

"Who goes there?!" they demanded, and Valentina took it upon herself to reply.

"We are with the Federation!" she called back. "We have come in answer to your distress call!" She held forth her badge and ID so they could see it through their scope.

After a moment they opened the gate for her and Aran to come inside, and quickly closed it behind them. A third guard appeared to lead them over to where the mayor and guard captain had come out to meet them. People came out to look at them, and everyone seemed taken aback by Aran. Some even going inside and closing the door.

Valentina took off her helmet to greet the mayor and captain. Aran did not.

"Welcome, welcome! Thank you for arriving so swiftly," said the mayor, before he and the captain introduced themselves. The mayor was a fairly average-looking middle-aged man with a short beard, and the guard captain a stern-looking woman in uniform with short hair.

"Not at all, it's what we do," Valentina replied. "I'm space cadet Valentina, and this is cadet Aran." She shook the hands of them both, and Aran did the same. Valentina had been afraid he wouldn't. The mayor seemed a little intimidated by Aran, but if the captain also did, she did not show it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ends a little awkwardly as it was originally intended to be one with the next, but it ran so long I felt it was best to split them up.


	2. First Mission and Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first mission together goes pretty smoothly, and afterwards Valentina gets a big surprise.

"Would you like something to eat?" the mayor asked as they went inside his house to sit and talk. Valentina shook her head.

"We appreciate the offer, but not right now," she replied as they sat down. "Perhaps after we are done. What can you tell us about the situation?" she asked, and at this point the guard captain took over.

"We have been under attack for a little over a week now," she started with. "The rinvers, that's the animals," she clarified, and showed them an image of what seemed to be large cat-like lizards. 3-4 metres long. "They are carnivores, but they've left humans alone until a week ago. Then suddenly they came bearing down on us, and charged straight into our wall." She pulled up a video of one of their attacks, and the aggression they displayed was surprising.

"We have no idea what caused their change in behaviour, but they've attacked shortly before sunset every night since," she said, clearly angry at the beasts. "At this rate we'll run out of weapon energy and ammunition before our next re-supply. And we don't have the manpower or equipment to go out and investigate ourselves." She definitely seemed unhappy with this, but at least she didn't seem resentful towards Aran and Valentina.

"They attack with such frenzy, but they always seem to charge straight for people," the captain added, scratching her head a little. "They have left our outside farms mostly alone, and only seem to damage anything that is between them and people." She sighed heavily. "Almost as if they're being controlled. The moment the sun fully sets the survivors all retreat. Thankfully we've only had minor injuries so far."

"Which direction do they come from?" Aran finally said something, taking Valentina off-guard. The captain brought up a map.

"They always come over the hill to the north of here," she said, and drew lines of where they had charged from. There wasn't a lot of deviation in their routes. "And they always attack the closest section of the wall that has people on it. We've used this to our advantage to guide them away from damaged parts of the wall."

"Thank you," Valentina said, and transferred the map to her own computer. "We'll go out and investigate right away."

They were let out of the north-east gate, and started following the direction the rinvers had been coming from. It was still barely past midday, so they had plenty of time before sunset. Valentina wondered if she should try to strike up a conversation, but first off she didn't know what to say, and second they needed to be alert right now.

After a couple of kilometres Aran suddenly held up his hand.

"Something is coming," he said, and a few seconds later about a dozen of the beasts came charging out from ahead of them. Maybe they were getting close to their den.

Valentina pulled her blaster, and she went right while Aran went left, both starting to fire. Even when hurt the beasts refused to retreat, seeming completely frenzied. They were no match for a GalFed blaster though, nor Aran's arm cannon, so they were able to put them all down pretty quickly. There was no cunning or manoeuvring to them, they just charged straight ahead, making them easy to hit.

Heading forward they kept being charged at, eventually from multiple angles as they came more into the middle of their den, or dens. A couple of them got close enough to strike, but couldn't pierce the shields. It still stung to be hit, though. A survival mechanism in the shields, so that you would always know if you were being hit or if something was draining the shields.

It wasn't long until they discovered a strange device stuck in the ground. A dark box with an antenna sticking out of it, about a metre across each side, and the antenna nearly two metres tall on top of that.

Aran scanned it and shared the data with Valentina. It was transmitting some sort of signal. While taking it intact would have been preferable, the circumstances didn't really allow that. Aran fired a missile at it, and it blew apart. Immediately any rinvers still alive dropped to the ground. Aran and Valentina held their fire to see what would happen next.

After a few moments the beasts began scrambling to their feet again, and they ran away.

Valentina stood guard while Aran thoroughly scanned the remains of the device, as his scanners were better. Then he salvaged the most intact part of it to bring back for analysis.

"I think this might be Space Pirate tech," he said as Valentina secured it on her back.

"What would that be doing here?" she wondered out loud, which actually prompted a reaction from Aran. He shrugged.

"Hopefully we might find out from this," he said, indicating the salvaged part.

They got back to the settlement without incident, and reported their findings. The mayor thanked them for dealing with it, while the guard captain wanted a look at the part. That might not be strictly allowed by the regulations, but Valentina figured they deserved to at least look at it.

"We'll stay the night to make sure they really won't be attacking again," Valentina said, and Aran concurred with that plan. If they left without confirming the mission was indeed complete, that would be a failure.

The mayor arranged for a place for them to stay, and to clean themselves up. While the armour kept everything well regulated, Valentina would still love a shower right now. He also promised to bring them something to eat soon enough.

Valentina put her helmet down on a table, and sat down. She was more tired than she realised. The adrenaline wearing off, probably. She heard a _pssshhht_ sound, and looked up in time to see the seal on Aran's helmet releasing. He had his hands raised, and he was going to take his helmet off. She watched with rapt attention, the beating of her heart seeming quite loud in her ears.

As the helmet came off, long golden locks flowed out, most of them tied into a really long ponytail. Clear, blue eyes set in a softer-than-expected-looking face were looking back at her. Valentina just stared dumbfounded. Aran was a...

"Y-you're a... g-g-g... gir... gi-"

"Woman," Aran said, cutting off Valentina's stammering. "And please, call me Samus. You handled yourself well out there, Valentina." Valentina had never expected Aran could smile like that. There was one word that really stuck to her mind. Aran was... Samus was...

 _Beautiful_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go, that's the end of the set-up, I'm going to get into the "meat" of the story from now on.


	3. Boarding the Station

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They reached the Federation space station, and delivered the part and report. Now they had three days off, and Valentina wanted to make good use of it, even if she wasn't sure how yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I suppose I should bring up the whole "contact suit" thing that appears in this chapter. I honestly think "zero suit" is a bad name, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea. It's just been handled badly.   
> As I imagine these suits as essentially the interface between the wearer and the armour through physical contact (while also preventing chafing), calling it a "contact suit" made sense to me. "Interface suit" could have also worked, but I don't feel it rolls off the tongue as easily.  
> And while this might not be canon, for this fic I am assuming that Federation armour works on a similar principle to Samus's when it comes to taking it on and off. As nearly every game shows Samus's armour being able to just vanish and re-appear almost instantly.

When no rinvers appeared at all overnight, the mission was deemed complete in the morning. They sent the clear signal from the settlement's communication array, then headed back to their ships to send the confirmation signal, and transmit the full report.

The next step was to deliver the part they salvaged, so they both took off in their own ships. As she was entering the hyperjump coordinates and aligning her ship, Valentina thought about last night's revelation.

Samus Aran was a woman. Valentina didn't have a good reason for why she had just assumed Samus was a man. Possibly because so did everyone else. Command had to know, though. They surely wouldn't admit anyone into the ranks without knowing that much. So why wouldn't they be more open about that? Perhaps they didn't feel it mattered.

She nearly forgot what she was doing until she saw Samus's ship jump away. After double-checking she had entered the coordinates right, she activated her own jump.

But even more than that, Valentina couldn't get the image of Samus's face out of her mind. Not only was she a woman, but she was beautiful. Tall, and strong. Kind. With a wonderful smile. Valentina wanted to know more about Samus.

This was hardly professional though. It was probably best to suppress and ignore such thoughts.

She came out of hyperspeed, and set course for the Federation space station. She put aside any trains of thought until she had docked properly.

Samus's ship was already there, of course. Valentina had lagged behind, but she could see Samus waiting. Perhaps she had been worried when Valentina wasn't right behind her? No, surely not. Samus was probably not the type to worry easily. It had to be just professionalism.

Valentina got out of the ship, and headed over to Samus. She was itching to get out of her armour.

"Thank you for waiting," she said to Samus, who just nodded at her before turning around. Still not much of a talker.

Samus hadn't really said much after telling Valentina 'you handled yourself well'. Valentina had so many things she wanted to ask, and couldn't decide on any of them. Suddenly her tongue had felt all tied up.

They had eaten, then gone out to patrol around the village, and afterwards Valentina had fallen asleep almost right away. When she woke up, Samus had already put her helmet back on.

Valentina felt really relieved to get into the station's changing room. GalFed regulations were that armour should only be on standby while on Federation bases, which she made sure to inform Samus of as well. Most people just wore their contact suits while on a base. Casual clothing wasn't unheard of, but it was uncommon. Only people on active guard duty had their armour on.

Valentina let out a sigh of relief as she finally put her armour on standby mode, and it vanished off of her, leaving only her pink contact suit. There were so many safeguards in place to make sure it didn't deactivate accidentally while in the field, so it was a long procedure to put it into standby. Activating it was much easier, since it might need to come on in an instant should something happen, and accidentally putting the armour on was most of the time not a big deal.

After she was done, she looked over at Samus. Apparently she had gotten done sooner, and was currently checking her hair.

 _Even Samus has a bit of vanity then_ , Valentina thought. She probably would have cut her hair short if not. As for the rest of Samus... her contact suit was blue, and didn't match the design of anything she had seen in the Federation. Valentina wondered again where Samus's armour and equipment came from. Would she answer if asked? Samus turned towards Valentina, one hand resting on her hip, and giving Valentina a full view.

"Shall we go?" she asked, and it took Valentina a moment before she was able to reply.

"A-ahm, yes!" she said. Seeing Samus like this, she realised this might be part of why no one knew who she really was. Looking like this, there was no way anyone could guess this was Samus Aran. She just looked like a normal human woman. Okay, a very tall and well-built human woman, but even with the unusual contact suit, who would assume this was the person underneath that mysterious alien power armour?

Depending on how many space stations she had visited, who knew how many people had seen her, but never suspected a thing?

They went to hand in the salvaged part, then reported to the briefing room. They delivered another account of their report in person for Command to match up with the one they transmitted. Afterwards they were told they'd get three days of R&R before the next mission, assuming no emergencies came up.

As they were walking away from the briefing room, Valentina kept glancing over at Samus. She didn't know what Samus usually did for R&R, but this was Valentina's chance to get to know her partner a little better. That was fine, right? Nothing unprofessional about just learning more about the person you'll be working with.

"H-hey, c-cad- er... Samus?" she said, and the taller woman looked back at her. Valentina gulped. "D-do you want to go get something to eat, o-or... something?" She was painfully aware of how uncool that sounded, but Samus still smiled at her.

"Sure," Samus replied. "Anything you recommend?" she asked, and Valentina cursed inwardly at how her heart skipped a beat.

 _Be professional_ , she chided herself. "T-there are a couple of places down b-by the crew quarters. W-we could go have a look," she suggested.

"Okay, lead the way," Samus said and looked ahead again, falling slightly behind Valentina so she could indeed follow.

A Federation space station didn't exactly have the most exciting eating places, as it was fundamentally a military base, and without civilian traffic.

They ended up getting something that was basically a mess of meat, vegetables, and sauce. It honestly tasted better than it looked.

 _How do I start? What do I say? What do I ask?_ Valentina might be mildly panicking while picking at her food.

"Are you not hungry?" Samus suddenly asked, and Valentina jumped a little. She looked up, and Samus had already gotten started. Valentina blushed, and put on her best smile.

"Ah, I-I was just lost in thought..." she replied, and started eating. It was actually quite good. She shoveled in a couple of big bites as she decided what to ask first.

"S-so I was wondering... why d-did you join the Federation, Samus?" she asked, and tried to ignore her nerves as Samus looked up at her. Samus leaned back against her chair before answering.

"I can't really talk about that... but we came to an arrangement," she said, and smiled apologetically. That was absolutely not the answer Valentina had expected. An arrangement with who? Command? But before she could follow up, Samus asked her: "How about you?" Maybe best to leave the follow-up for later. Valentina wanted to also try to appear mysterious, but considering how uncool she'd already been in front of Samus twice, honesty might be a better policy than risking a third failure.

"W-well, my father is part of the Federation, and..." Valentina wondered if the next part was going to sound childish. "...I wanted to get away from my home settlement. It's a pretty boring place, and I hoped for more, I-I guess..." She became very aware of Samus watching her with a lightly amused look. "I-I mean, I was hoping I m-maybe could make a difference somewhere f-for someone too!" Valentina was blushing now, and Samus's smile grew a little wider before she broke into a gentle laugh that caught Valentina off-guard. She had expected it to sound different, somehow.

"Ah, sorry," Samus said, noticing that Valentina seemed to be getting even more embarrassed by the second. "I'm not making fun of you, I just..." she gets a wistful look in her eyes. "I thought it sounded very nice." Valentina's embarrassment was blunted a little by confusion. "I don't get to talk to people much," Samus admitted. "So I'm sorry I made you feel bad." She scooped in another mouthful of food.

"N-no, don't worry about it," Valentina said, trying to sound reassuring. "I can be a little awkward at times, especially with-" She quickly shut herself up. _No, Valentina, don't you dare say that out loud_ , she told herself sternly.

"With?" Samus asked with genuine curiosity. Valentina felt relieved that Samus hadn't intuited that Valentina was just about to call her beautiful.

"W-with people I don't know that w-well yet," she said instead. _Nice save_ , she thought. For a moment there was a look in Samus's eyes that Valentina couldn't read, but then it was gone, replaced with another smile. Valentina felt like she could get lost in those eyes, and she probably wouldn't mind.

"I look forward to getting to know you that well, then," Samus said. Was she teasing her now? Valentina felt like Samus might be teasing her. She went back to her food, pondering what to try asking next. At least Samus was more talkative without the armour on. Valentina wondered if that was intentional, or just something that happened automatically.

After finishing the food, Valentina suggested she could show Samus around the station. That should give her time to come up with more questions. She had entirely forgotten about her pledge to only be professional.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole "safeguards and long procedure" bit is specifically a middle finger to Metroid: Other M. Just screw the idea that Samus's armour can switch itself off if she panicked, or has an off-switch in the back that someone can just shoot. If it doesn't stay on in emergencies and all cases except where she very deliberately switches it off, then it's a fucking hazard!  
> Also screw the idea that Samus is not a tall woman with visible muscles.


	4. Can't Really Talk About That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valentina helped Samus settle in on the station, while also trying to learn more about her. Which turned out to be harder than she had hoped.

Wandering around the station was far from exciting. It wasn't a sight-seeing location by any means. The highlights were the leisure facilities, and perhaps the armoury depending on your interests. But it was an opportunity for Valentina to ask more questions.

"I've been curious about your armour," Valentina said, then immediately realised Samus had probably heard that line before. "W-where is it from? How did you get it?" she still asked, not wanting to derail herself immediately. Samus looked at her, and Valentina wondered what sort of expression she wore. Like that of an eager child, perhaps.

"I..." Samus started, then looked around the place. "I can't really talk about that." Valentina felt her heart sink immediately, and maybe Samus noticed. "Not here," she added. Valentina glanced around too. There were other cadets and even an officer wandering around close by. Was it confidential information? Or did Samus simply not like having people know?

"W-well, um... where are you from?" she tried asking instead. She had shared where she came from with Samus, so maybe Samus would be willing to do the same. Valentina regretted asking when she saw the brief flash of pain on Samus's face, but the taller woman quickly masked it with a smile.

"I'm from a small settlement that wasn't too far from the rim," she said, and stopped to look out the window into space. From their location they just barely saw part of the planet the station was orbiting. "Probably a little smaller than the one we were just at. It had a mining operation and an industrial plant." Valentina noticed Samus was talking in the past tense. "I was quite young when the Space Pirates attacked, so I don't remember all the details of it. And then..." Samus leaned against the frame, staring out into the distance.

"And then?" Valentina asked after Samus had gone quiet. Samus gave her an apologetic look.

"I can't really talk about that," she said, and smiled sadly. "Maybe another time." Valentina nodded, and they resumed walking. She was disappointed, but it didn't feel right to push the issue.

She suggested going to the gym and stretching out properly. Wearing the armour tended to stiffen you up a bit, and the same with sitting in the cockpit of the ship. Maybe Samus's armour didn't do that, but she agreed to come along. For the briefest of moments Valentina imagined Samus giving her a massage, but she quickly shook that out of her head.

After how the last one went, Valentina now felt nervous about asking any more questions. She didn't want to trigger more unpleasant memories. What would be a safe thing to ask?

It felt good to use the gym equipment to work out and stretch her muscles, and get all her joints cracked properly. Going to bed tonight, and waking back up tomorrow was going to be a lot more pleasant after this.

"So what do you typically do on your time off, Samus?" Valentina finally decided to ask, while trying to not stare at Samus as she worked out. _Is it even possible for a human to get into that good shape?_ she pondered. Valentina was hardly a weakling. She was fairly proud of her body, but Samus was on another level.

"Not a lot," Samus said, almost sounding a little embarrassed. Or maybe Valentina just imagined that part. "Stuff like this, I suppose. Training, practising. I'm not very good at relaxing. I do my best to get enough sleep, but..." she shrugged and left it at that.

"Maybe I can help you find something to relax with," Valentina suggested quite casually before realising what she had just said. Samus looked at her.

"Maybe you can," she sounded amused, and flashed Valentina an enigmatic smile.

 _I'm not blushing, I'm not blushing, I'm not blushing_ , Valentina kept repeating to herself, and tried to focus on the work-out.

After they had hit the showers, they received a message for Samus to report to the station's supervisor. Probably to be assigned quarters and such. Valentina showed her the way, then waited outside while Samus went into the office.

 _What am I doing?_ she asked herself. _I'm acting as if I'm some star-struck teenager_. She groaned, and ruffled her hair a bit. Sure, she was partnered up with the one and only Samus Aran, but she had hoped she had more discipline than this. She needed to focus. Yet again she wondered why she had been chosen for this.

It was nearly 10 minutes before Samus came back out. The supervisor must have gone through some station regulations while they were at it.

"Did you get everything you needed?" Valentina asked. Samus was reading through the tablet she'd been given. She was also holding a small bag, likely containing the same items Valentina had gotten when she was assigned quarters here.

"Yup, looks like," she answered. "I've been assigned to share quarters with you." Valentina blinked. She shouldn't be surprised at this, as partners are often assigned to stay in the same quarters, and hers certainly had the room for it. Yet still it hadn't entered her mind as an option. Maybe being close to Samus was ruining her ability to think clearly.

"O-oh, right," Valentina said. "T-that makes sense, since we're w-working together now." Sleeping in the same room as Samus really shouldn't be such a big thing. They had already done that at the settlement, kinda. But it still felt like a big thing. She would get to see Samus in her... _No, stop thinking about that!_ she chided herself. It wasn't a big deal, that was just her imagination running away from her.

"I'd like to get this dropped off, so could you show the way?" Samus asked, and Valentina snapped out of it.

"Y-yeah, this way," she said, and took the lead again. Getting back to the crew quarters area, and getting to their quarters, took nearly another 10 minutes. It was a big station.

The room wasn't particularly exciting. Valentina had put up a few personal effects, and there was a view-screen, a sound system, and a multi-function computer. But it was still somewhat spartan, considering she wasn't here a lot of the time.

Samus set down the bag by her bunk, then sat down on it. She bounced a few times as if testing its softness, and gave a small nod. Then she looked over at Valentina.

"Valentina, could you please close the door, and sit down?" Samus asked, and Valentina could swear her heart started beating louder. She did as asked and sat down in her own bunk, opposite Samus. She was too nervous to say anything, but thankfully she didn't have to.

"You were asking earlier, and we... are going to be working together," Samus said, though it sounded like she was about to say something else. "So I'll tell you a few things, at least. I can't tell you every detail, but I can share some things. I'd feel bad if I kept leaving you entirely in the dark."

 _Oh, that's what she wanted to talk about_ , Valentina thought to herself, and tried to ignore her disappointment. Samus leaned backwards, and placed her hands on the bunk as she looked up at the ceiling. Thinking about what she could and couldn't say, maybe. Or what she would and wouldn't... Valentina felt a little like Samus was saying "I won't tell you" rather than "I can't tell you" when it came to this.

Samus started telling her a little about the armour. She shared some of its features and abilities, since that would make it easier for the two of them to work together. And she said it was made by the Chozo, though she wasn't willing to share how she ended up with it. Considering how well it fit her, Valentina had to assume it was actually made for Samus.

Valentina had never heard of the Chozo before, but Samus explained they were one of the old races from before the time of the Federation. She did know about the old races in general. At this point they had all either retreated from the galactic scene, or vanished entirely, for reasons unknown. At least as far as she knew. Their ruins and remnants could be found on quite a lot of planets. Samus didn't seem like she was hiding anything either when she said she didn't know about any of them still being around.

It was clear that Samus was not telling the whole story by any means, but she had to have her reasons to. Maybe she'd reveal more once they knew each other better. Samus was friendly enough, but Valentina shouldn't forget that they had only known each other for two days. No matter how star-struck she was. And she had no idea how Samus actually felt about her.

Come to think of it, didn't Samus's armour look a little different in some of the old photos? She couldn't be entirely sure, especially since Samus wasn't currently wearing it, but the thought started nagging at her. She'd try to pay attention when they went on their next mission.

"S-so what did do you before you joined?" Valentina asked. She knew the rumours, but wanted to hear Samus tell it. Samus looked at her, a wry smile playing on her lips.

"I'm sure you've heard the stories, at least some of them," she replied, and Valentina for a moment worried whether Samus could read her mind. "I was a bounty hunter. With my skill-set it seemed like a logical place to start." Valentina wondered what Samus meant by that. "But certain circumstances occurred, and I came to an agreement with the Federation." She didn't seem entirely happy about it. "And I'm sorry I keep saying this, but again: I can't really talk about it." She sounded genuinely apologetic.

Valentina had learned a bit, though not as much as she had hoped. In a way it just raised more questions. But they still had two more days before their next mission, so maybe she'd learn more by then. Or maybe she should just lay off. Being totally honest with herself, she knew that she wouldn't be able to.


	5. Underwater Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Samus and Valentina are sent to assist an engineering squad in recovering an intact device of the type they encountered last mission.

Even with there not being that much to do on the station, Valentina still felt like the three days of R&R just flew by. She got to spend more time with Samus, which was good. They had talked about various things.

Samus had revealed she was not fond of spicy foods, but was not the type to complain if it was served. Valentina had somewhat accidentally shared the tales of her jump-pack misadventures, and felt really embarrassed about it afterwards. Samus told her that she had a fondness for small, cute things. Which Valentina was not allowed to share with anyone. Valentina talked more about her family, and her training after joining the Federation. Unfortunately Samus wouldn't open up about where _she_ learned her skills.

Upon reflection Valentina realised that Samus had shared things, but not really substantial things. Knowing more about Samus's personality and preferences was not a bad thing, but she hadn't learned anything more about Samus's past or circumstances.

Now it was the morning after, and they reported to the briefing room for their next mission.

Using the data and machinery she and Samus had brought back, the Federation had been able to track a nearly identical signal on a different planet. A recon drone had located an identical-looking device in the waters of that planet. About 95% of the planet's surface was covered in water, which meant almost no land-based fauna. Considering the effect of the previous device, it made sense to place it in the water.

However the planet didn't have any settlements, which made it a mystery why the device had been placed there. The intelligence branch speculated it was, or had been, a testing ground. And the device had just been left behind. If it really was the Space Pirates, they perhaps didn't deem it worth the risk to recover it. Regardless this was a prime opportunity for the Federation to claim one of these devices.

Samus and Valentina were to join an engineering squadron equipped to neutralise and recover the device without harming it. As it was unknown what sorts of creatures the device might be affecting down there, they could use some extra guards. Samus was deemed the best choice, and Valentina was coming along since she was her partner now. That wasn't how they worded it, but it's how Valentina heard it.

Valentina wasn't entirely happy feeling like an afterthought, but she was maybe less happy about an underwater deployment. That meant relying on the jump-pack to compensate for the loss of movement. Hopefully it's easier underwater than in the air.

"You okay?" Samus asked as they walked towards the changing room. Had she noticed Valentina's brooding?

"A little nervous, I guess," Valentina replied. She was comfortable being that open with Samus now, but she didn't want to share her 'afterthought' feelings. "It'll be my first underwater deployment. I've had training, but this is my first time in the field. I hope I don't slow you down."

"You'll do fine," Samus said with a confidence that Valentina currently lacked. "And I'll be looking out for you." That line both excited and dismayed Valentina. The idea of Samus looking after her was certainly appealing, but it also made it feel like Samus believed she needed extra protection.

In the changing room Valentina tried to be subtle about watching Samus put her armour back on. It looked far more elegant than a Federation armour activating. Valentina turned on her own, and they headed for their ships.

\---

They landed on an island not too far from where the device had been marked by the recon drone. The engineering squad was still 10 minutes out when Samus and Valentina exited their ships.

Valentina noticed that Samus's armour had changed colour. The deeper orange parts were now a deep purple. Valentina asked Samus about it.

"It's my gravity suit. It lets me move freely underwater," she said. That sounded handy, but Valentina was confused as to where it had come from.

"Do you have multiple armour sets?" she ended up asking.

"No, that's not it," Samus replied. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you. My armour comes with several installed components that I can enable and disable to adapt to different situations." Valentina was floored. That was definitely several steps above what Federation armour could do. They needed to be outfitted before going out.

"Why wouldn't you just leave everything enabled?" was all Valentina could think to ask.

"The power drain increases with each active component," Samus said quite simply. "I've made it a habit to not have anything active that I don't need to." Valentina wondered if there were any other reasons as well.

The engineering squad's transport arrived and landed. There were six of them, and they seemed to have three different kits equipped. One pair of each kit. For redundancy, perhaps? They greeted each other, and agreed on the formation. Samus would lead, Valentina would be in the rear, the engineers would walk in two rows between them.

Before they went in the water they did a jump-pack test. Everyone's seemed to be working fine, and Valentina breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't mess up the jump in any way.

Entering the water was strange. She couldn't really see that far, but setting the visor to cycle until it found the best configuration helped some. She still couldn't see as far as she'd like though, especially as they got deeper.

Things were peaceful at first. It was hard to not admire the vast array of life down here. A mass of colours and movement. But once they got within 2 kms of the mark, things took a very sudden turn. All of the smaller fauna were gone, as if they avoided the area around the device like a plague. The coral and other plant life looked sickly.

What movement they could see came from larger creatures, probably carnivores. They were stalking them from a distance. Whenever any of the creatures started coming closer, Samus, Valentina, or one of the engineers fired off some warning shots, which got the beasts to retreat.

It wasn't until they reached the 1 km radius that the creatures genuinely started attacking. Warning shots didn't do the job any longer, but they would still retreat after a couple of hits. None of them seemed willing to die yet. So Samus and everyone tried to avoid lethal shots as much as possible.

There wasn't just one type of creature either. There seemed to be three different species attacking with unnatural coordination. There were two types that were about 2-3 metres long, and one larger type that seemed to go up past 5 metres. Maybe even 6 for the biggest ones.

As they got closer, the attacks grew fiercer. Past the 500 metre radius, the beasts became more and more like the rinvers had been, just charging straight at them with seemingly no coordination or apparent strategy. Only the gravest of wounds would get any of them to back off, but most would not stop until dead.

One of the engineers got rammed pretty badly, and nearly thrown away from the rest of them. It was Samus who saved him by firing out a strange beam that grabbed onto him and pulled him back. His shields held, but the armour was visibly dented.

They kept taking hits, though none quite as bad as that. Not only was it harder to see, but there were more angles they could get attacked from as well. Valentina got a rough hit to the leg that cut shallow into her thigh. The sealant foam filled in the breach quickly, and the shield kept the water out, but she'd have to try to avoid taking more hits there.

The engineers were able to disable the device very shortly after they reached it, which had the same effect as last time of every creature just seeming to shut off for a moment. When they recovered they quickly swam out of range, leaving just the dead ones behind.

They didn't completely go away though. Valentina could still see and sense them stalking out there, sometimes just barely in sight, someone just barely out of sight. Hopefully they'd get away with just the bruises, cuts, and battering they had already sustained. The beasts certainly weren't attacking while the engineers were dislodging the device for transport. Two of them were going to carry it back, while the rest guarded them.

When they started to move back, things were going smoothly at first. But once they reached a more open area again, the creatures started probing their defences. Making small charges and feints to see how close they could get. At least that's what it felt like. The warning shots were flying a little closer to the beasts now, even scoring the occasional hit, as everyone was wary after the earlier injuries they'd sustained from the beasts.

At the edge where they started to see smaller fauna again, there was suddenly a large charge from the creatures. Far more coordinated than their earlier frenzied efforts, and it was mostly the larger ones. Three came at Valentina, but she only spotted two in time. The third rammed into her back, and sent her flying into a rockside. Dazed and in pain she managed to drive the thing off with a couple of shots straight into its mouth as it opened up to bite her.

They stumbled on, and she could tell at least one of the engineers had been hit hard too. She heard voices, but they were too muddled to make out. She's not even sure how far she made it before she lost consciousness.

\---

"Va...en...a," was the next thing she became aware of. A strange muted sound. "Vale...na. Valentina. Valentina!" she could finally hear the whole thing, and opened her eyes. Things were fuzzy, but she could see Samus's face above her. "Valentina!" Samus shouted.

"Urgh... I... I'm awake..." Valentina replied. She tried to look around, but her surroundings weren't familiar. "Where...?" she managed to ask, and she could see Samus's relief.

"Aboard my ship. You collapsed before we reached land," Samus said.

"The engineers?" Valentina asked. Everything seemed to hurt, especially her head.

"They've lifted off with the device. A couple of rough injuries, but they'll live," Samus told her. That's good. Valentina thought she'd live too.

"Now I need you to take your armour off," Samus said. Valentina nearly sat up in surprise, but the headache forced her back down.

"Wha-what?" she stammered forth.

"I've done what I can for your injuries as you are, but I need you out of your armour for the rest."

 _Oh, that makes sense_ , Valentina thought. She certainly wasn't in shape to argue. De-activating the armour felt like an even more agonisingly slow process than usual. Once she was done, she could feel the floor of Samus's ship press against her back. Samus helped her roll onto her least injured side.

"Eesh, look at the state of you," Samus murmured as she began treating Valentina. "I should have been more vigilant." That annoyed Valentina. Once she got the injection that made her head hurt less, she decided to speak up.

"I... I'm not helpless, you know," she said in surly tone. Not quite as defiant or impressive as she had hoped. Samus was disinfecting the wound on Valentina's thigh. "You don't have to baby me... I'm a... a competent trooper..." Samus sat back on her heels and looked at Valentina. A mix of emotions flashed across her face before settling on apologetic.

"You're right. I'm sorry," Samus said. "I suppose I can get a little... protective." She applied medical gel to seal Valentina's wounds, and helped her sit up. Valentina noticed Samus had a couple of treated cuts and bruises herself. So not even Samus Aran was invincible. She wasn't sure if that made her feel better or not. "How's your head?" Samus asked.

"Mm... still aches..." Valentina said, and lifted a hand to feel. Her skull didn't appreciate being touched, so she winced. "Ow..." Samus gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I'll fly us back. Signal your ship to follow, and I'll handle the rest," Samus said. "You take it easy until we get there."

"I..." Valentina wanted to argue, but she knew she had to face facts. "Okay. Thank you, Samus." She sent the command, and got a pillow to rest her head on before Samus took off. This wasn't Valentina's proudest moment, but as a silver lining she felt like she'd gotten to see a different side of Samus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this isn't going as fast as some of my other series, but I feel like I'm getting there. I certainly don't intend to give up.


	6. Fierce Assault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The recovery of the device last mission has given the Federation an increased ability to track down more of them. So Samus and Valentina are sent out as one of the teams tasked with neutralising the devices, but they come across something larger than expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had not realised how long it had been since I last updated this. I had gotten so caught up in other writing ideas after I hit a bit of writer's block on this one. So here's an extra long chapter that'll hopefully make the wait feel more worthwhile.

Valentina had to spend a whole day in the infirmary when they returned to the station. She had gotten a concussion, but they were able to stabilise it fairly quickly. The rest of the day was mostly applying accelerated healing, and monitoring her head.

Samus had tried to protest Valentina leaving the infirmary so soon, even though to Valentina it had felt like forever already. She wasn't great at just lying around.

"I'm okay again, I promise. The medics know what they're doing," she said as reassuringly as she could. Samus didn't seem as convinced.

"Wouldn't it be better to take it easy for at least one more day?" she asked. Valentina smiled at her. It was a little nice to have someone care so much.

"I appreciate your concern, but nothing hurts any longer," Valentina said. Samus tested that by poking Valentina's forehead. "Not even there, honest! Please just trust me on this. Besides, we have more work to do."

The briefing had arrived in writing while Valentina was still in the infirmary. The recovery of an intact device had greatly improved the Federation's search network, and the location of several more devices had been discovered across multiple systems. They were dispatching teams to destroy the devices, preferably at range to avoid a situation like last time. And they wanted Samus and Valentina to be one of the teams. They would hit three of the locations.

Recon probes had estimated that two of them could be destroyed by ship weaponry, but the third was out of sight from the air. So they would have to go on foot for that one. That was how Command were dividing up the targets. They didn't want any team to have more than one ground deployment.

The Valentroid and Samus's gunship flew out towards the closest target. They'd hit the two they could reach with aerial bombardment first, then go for the ground one at the end. Samus had suggested splitting up for the first two, but Valentina opposed it on the grounds that they could run into anti-air fire, or Space Pirate vessels. Samus didn't argue that point.

The two aerial strikes went well. The devices were not particularly hidden, so they could target them from outside of their estimated effective range. The long-distance display showed that the first seemed to be controlling ground-based creatures, and the second was controlling flying ones. That all dropped to the ground when the device blew up. Valentina figured that at least those who were flying the highest could not have survived that drop.

Again both of them were on planets without settlements. Were they just testing the effects? Perhaps the one they first encountered was the so far only attempt at using a device to attack. As far as Valentina and Samus were aware, no more such distress calls had come in.

On the third planet something struck Valentina as odd right away. The area the signal was coming from was very barren. Unless there was some large underground ecosystem, it seemed unlikely a mass of predators would be in the area. There would not be enough for them to prey on. Nor enough flora to sustain a large amount of herbivores. She checked her scanners. The Valentroid confirmed there was a breathable atmosphere, but little else.

Things didn't look much better from the ground once they had landed.

"Something doesn't feel right," she said to Samus when they met up.

"I concur," Samus said, and scanned the area. Nothing leaped out at them. In fact, nothing seemed to be moving at all. They should still be outside the effective range of the device, so that seemed like an unlikely culprit. It was more like there hadn't been anything here to begin with. The whole planet wasn't dead, but this particular area looked like it hadn't seen rain or anything in decades, if not longer. Only a few very tenacious plants lived here. Drawing their nutrients from unknown sources.

They headed towards the signal, and it wasn't long until they arrived at the entrance of a large cave. So a subterranean ecosystem was a possibility, but as far as they could tell there weren't any more signs of life within the cave either. After double-checking the direction of the signal, and knowing it wasn't above ground, they figured it had to be reached through the cave. This really didn't feel right, so they went on high alert, and advanced slowly.

Nothing was happening as they moved ahead, but that wasn't making Valentina feel any better. They had entered a branching tunnel network, so they stuck to the path that seemed most likely to be leading towards the signal. The armour's mapping system couldn't penetrate very far down here.

"I don't think these tunnels are natural," Samus said after they'd walked a while. Valentina looked around at the walls. It did seem unlikely that a natural cave tunnel would run this straight. Otherwise the only real tell was that it seemed uniformly spacious nearly all the way. You could move something big through here.

"I think you're right," she replied. She thought she could finally see an end to the tunnel up ahead. A dead end? No. As they got closer, they could see it was a large door. Wait... "Samus... I think I hear something." There was a grinding of rock, and suddenly four automated turrets popped out of the wall.

They threw themselves to the side as heavy bolts started flying in their direction. Samus launched missiles, but the turrets shot them down. Valentina returned fire with the EMP setting on her blaster, and Samus switched to some sort of electricity based beam weapon that Valentina hadn't seen before.

Once the turrets were disabled, Valentina and Samus had only taken a few glancing hits. Nothing that damaged the armour, or drained the shields considerably.

"Space Pirates," Samus said. "Maybe a manufacturing facility for the devices."

"What do we do? Pull back and call in reinforcements?" Valentina asked. She looked behind to see if the way was still clear.

"No," Samus said. There was a peculiar tone in her voice that Valentina hadn't heard before. "We take it out."

"By ourselves?!" Valentina couldn't hide her disbelief. There was something happening with Samus's armour. It wasn't visible, but it was more like... like Valentina could hear or sense something changing within.

"Stand back," Samus said, and took aim at the door. Her arm cannon entered a configuration Valentina hadn't seen before, and launched a large missile at the door. She covered her eyes on instinct. The explosion wasn't as loud as she had anticipated, but when she looked again most of the door was gone.

"Wha-what was that?" she asked, but Samus was already heading into the structure. "Wait! Samus!" Valentina hurried after, but she couldn't move as quickly. By the time she was through the smoking ruin of the door, there were already exchanges of fire going on.

Samus was moving like no one or nothing Valentina had ever seen before. Dashing along, leaping and flipping off walls, using her jump-pack with an agility not possible with Federation-issue gear. Instead of her regular bolts, she was firing beams of red energy that were burning through whatever they hit. Overwhelming Space Pirate shields and armour in just a few blasts. The Space Pirates were putting up a fierce defence, but the few hits Samus did take she just ignored.

Seeing Samus go all out like that was honestly frightening. It made Valentina wonder if maybe all the stories, all the rumours, were true. Samus seemed more like an avatar of destruction than a human being. It wasn't all firepower either, she was physically hitting and kicking the Pirates with such force that it sent them flying.

However Valentina couldn't just stand there gawping. The only times she had faced Space Pirates before had been as part of a larger assault team, or encountering a small recon group. She assumed this wasn't a very large facility, but there still seemed to be a lot of them here. Maybe Samus could handle it alone, but if Valentina could make things easier...

The Pirates were all focused on Samus, perhaps thinking she had come alone. Valentina dashed forward into cover. It took her a moment to configure her blaster for the task.

 _Keep calm, Valentina. Remember your training_ , she told herself, then popped around the corner and fired a quick succession of bolts into the backs of two pirates trying to avoid Samus's blasts. One of them went down immediately, the other had time to whip around before getting two bolts to the chest that took them down. The rest hadn't seemed to notice, still focusing on Samus. It was hard to tell, but Valentina was worried Samus was taking too many hits.

She dashed forward to the next suitable bit of cover, and took down another Pirate standing by their lonesome. As she was looking for another target, the door she had just ran past opened, and two Pirates stormed in. They and Valentina looked at each other for the briefest moment, then Valentina reacted first.

Five bolts in the exact same place knocked over one of the Pirates. She couldn't confirm the kill yet, because the other one had drawn a sword, and lunged at her. She rolled out of the way, fumbling for her combat knife. She fired several shots towards her opponent, but only two hit. Not enough. On the next swing from the Pirate she was able to move just enough that the shield deflected it to the side, but it took a small chunk of her shield energy with it. She finally got her knife out, and directed extra power to her arm servos before the Pirate could recover from striking the ground. The knife pierced the shield and struck the Pirate in the neck before they could dodge.

That one dropped to the ground as she pulled the knife back out. She glanced at the other one, but they weren't moving. A brief scan showed no vitals. She turned back towards Samus, only to see her rush out of the room. Did she know where she was going, or did she intend to just storm through the entire place? There were no remaining pirates standing. Samus must have decided to move on as soon as nothing was shooting at her any longer. Valentina cursed inwardly and ran after Samus. They needed to have a talk after this was over.

There were two dead pirates in the corridor leading to the next room, and inside Samus was already wreaking havoc. This room didn't have that many Space Pirates, so the last one dropped before Valentina could even raise her blaster. Instead of rushing on again, Samus had stopped at some computer terminals. Could she access Space Pirate systems on the fly?

"Samus," Valentina called out as she ran up to her. "You can't just charge off like that, we need to stick together."

"Valentina?" Samus sounded confused for a moment. Had she forgotten Valentina was there? "Just stay behind me. I can deal with the Space Pirates." Samus's tone was bugging Valentina.

"We're a team," she said. "If you run off on your own, you're putting us both in danger."

"I..." Samus hesitated, then re-composed herself. "We might need to escape quickly after I blow up the production facility." She brought up a map she had found, indicating where they had to go. "Based on these plans I can set off explosives here, and here, to cripple the facility for good. Please keep our backs clear." Valentina still wasn't entirely happy about this, but it was something resembling a plan, and they had a map. She copied the map to her computer, and suppressed a sigh.

"Fine, lead the way," she said. Samus nodded, and headed out the other door from the one they had come in. The map showed the place was reasonably large, but it unfortunately didn't say how many Space Pirates were stationed here. If they were lucky, they'd already taken out most of them.

They ran into more Pirates as they headed towards the production hall. Samus was taking them down really quickly though. Valentina's blaster barely heated up from the few shots she let off.

Ideally they should wipe the production data as well, preferably after making a copy for themselves, but there was no telling when reinforcements might arrive, or if they might decide to trigger the base's self-destruct. The location of the self-destruct console wasn't marked on the map, so finding that to disable it would be even worse than making a detour to the mainframe. The Space Pirates did (ironically) not like the idea of their stuff being taken.

Wrecking the production equipment to the extent that it couldn't be repaired was probably the best they could do on an unknown timetable. They could call in a Federation cruiser to secure the place afterwards.

The hall housing the production and assembly equipment was huge. It was also empty of Space Pirates. That wasn't a good sign. Still, Samus headed off to set the explosives, while Valentina stayed behind to watch the door they came in, and another to the side of it. She took cover as best she could. This place was designed very openly, but the equipment had some places you could stand behind.

When she heard the first explosion go off from Samus's direction, the Space Pirates attacked. They came in both doors, but Valentina had set up her launcher. It fired at both doors at the same time. The first of them were blown away by the blast, but more followed. Unfortunately her missile launcher didn't have more rounds, and she couldn't exactly reload right now.

 _Eesh, how many of them are there?_ she wondered, and began firing. Holding them back by herself was proving very hard. There wasn't a lot of room to manoeuvre without becoming an open target. Gradually they were forcing her back, but she didn't have much area to go on. There was a significant open stretch until the next cover.

With her shield draining, and armour getting chipped away, she still held on. What was taking Samus so long? The second explosion should have gone off by now. At least there didn't seem to be any more pirates coming. She just had to deal with the ones who were already there. About half of them were down, so this was doable.

When the second explosion went off, Valentina could feel the shockwave hit her from behind. She lost focus for just a second, but it was enough. One of the pirates scored a hit on her helmet. There was enough shield energy left to deflect it slightly, but it still cut across her cheek. The pain made her cry out as she was knocked onto her back.

 _Ah... is this the end?_ she pondered, dazed. She couldn't seem to move. Her shield wasn't gone yet, but there was really not a lot of energy left sustaining it. Her mind felt strangely clear considering what was happening. She could see the reason she couldn't move was that all the energy that moved the servos of the armour had been directed to trying to keep the shield going. The Space Pirates were still firing. They were lousy shots, but some of them hit her. Well, at least she had bought time for Samus to finish the mission. Samus could-

"Valentina!" Valentina could hear a shout from behind her, and she tried to tilt her head back to look. The Space Pirate shots were now all flying over her. She was able to look back enough to see Samus leaping into the air, then... turning into a ball? Maybe she was hallucinating now. Something launched out of the ball in the direction of the Space Pirates, then suddenly Samus was there. She hunched over Valentina as if shielding her.

Then there was a loud explosion. The world went white, and the heat was immense. Valentina could feel the last of her shield fizzle. Then it stopped. Followed by an eerie silence.

"Valentina!" Samus shouted again. Valentina still couldn't move. Her HUD was all frazzled, so she couldn't even check her status, but she assumed she had virtually no energy left. Meaning her armour was basically dead weight. "Valentina!" Samus lifted her up by the shoulders, and Valentina tried to focus on her. The frazzled HUD was making her vision unclear.

"I... I'm still here..." she managed to say weakly. Speaking made everything ache more.

"Thank the gods," Samus said quietly. "Can you move? Can you walk?" Valentina tried. She attempted to send any power at all to the servos, but it wasn't responding properly. Only a few jolts. Alright then. She had to disengage the servo control, and move of her own physical power. To her great relief, the command went through.

"Urgh... yes," she said, and slowly moved her limbs. It had been a while since she last did this. "But the energy is drained... help me up?" The armour was heavy, but not unbearably so. Still, making it out of here was probably the best she could manage. Samus helped her on her feet.

Valentina looked towards where the Pirates had been, and there was nothing. No trace of them. Even parts of the room were gone, others melted and cracked.

"What was that?" she asked. And why did Samus seem unharmed by it?

"I'll tell you later, when we're out of here," Samus replied. Another unfamiliar tone to her voice. Valentina wasn't about to argue with that though. They needed to get out. It stung to walk. She thought her legs had probably been hit. Possibly bleeding. "You're sure you can walk?" Samus asked again.

"Enough to get out of here," Valentina said as bravely as she could manage. Samus took her hand as they walked out. Without power any sensation through the armour felt numb, but it was still something Valentina could focus on besides the pain. She didn't think her injuries were that bad though, there was just a fair amount of them.

They made it to the ships without further incident. That must have been the last of the Pirates. Valentina accepted being taken into Samus's ship again. She'd need to physically remove the armour, and some help would be appreciated.

Valentina sat down, and got started while Samus was deactivating her own suit. Taking the helmet off was the easy part. Wow, it looked like a mess. That shot had really cut right through. Getting the gloves off was also fairly simple, which then let her undo the clasps on the boots.

"I'll help," she heard Samus say in a hushed voice from behind her. Valentina kicked off her boots, then Samus loosened the sleeves so Valentina could pull them off. Then they disconnected the torso from the leggings, and they got both of those off too. Valentina sighed in relief. Now to get these injuries treated. Her whole contact suit was a mess. As least the pink colour wasn't that different from blood. Then she felt Samus embrace her from behind.

"Samus?" Valentina's heart-rate went up a little.

"I'm sorry..." Samus said. "I shouldn't have... I'm sorry..." Valentina thought it sounded like Samus was crying, but she was being hugged too tight to be able to turn around and look.

"H-hey, it's okay. Samus, we beat them. It's okay," Valentina said, trying to sound reassuring.

"I thought... I could never forgive myself if you... I-I'm sorry..." Samus sounded distraught, and it was making Valentina tear up as well. The adrenaline wearing off wasn't helping.

"Samus. I'm okay," she said, and placed a hand on Samus's arm. "I'm a mess, but I'm okay." Samus loosened her hold, and pulled one arm back to try to wipe her tears. Valentina moved her hand onto Samus's remaining hand, and squeezed it gently.

"I'm sorry," Samus said again. "I... I know, I just... I just want to protect you. But I went in there, and... and I shouldn't have..." Valentina turned around enough to place a hand on Samus's cheek.

"It's okay. Let's get our injuries treated, then we can talk more, okay?" Valentina smiled as well as she could, and Samus nodded.

The wounds were all fairly shallow, Valentina just had several of them. Samus had some of her own, but not nearly as many. It felt nice when the tingling of the medical gel replaced all the stinging and itching. Then Samus was on her again, hugging Valentina protectively.

"I thought I had lost you," Samus whispered. Valentina gasped as Samus's strength.

"You didn't," Valentina replied, and returned the hug. She really hadn't expected to see this side of Samus. Actually she hadn't even thought Samus had this side. It was making Valentina's heart race.

"We should head back," she said after a while. Samus didn't move. "More Space Pirates could arrive. And we need to send a report." Samus still didn't move. It felt nice, but Valentina was getting worried about over-heating. "Samus, please. You can hold me as much as you want back at base." She could feel Samus's hold easing, and Samus leaned back.

"Really?" she asked, and Valentina thought Samus's eyes sparkled a little.

"I promise," Valentina replied. "But we really need to head back." She smiled at Samus, who smiled back. "I'll return to the Valentroid, and send our report before we leave."

Samus didn't like the idea of Valentina leaving her ship, but she relented. Even helping to move Valentina's armour pieces over. Valentina plugged the armour's computer into the ship's power, and quickly put together a report to send off, along with a request for a team to secure the facility. Then they lifted off and set course back to base.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is basically it for my idea for this story. I want to do an epilogue, and then I think that will be the final chapter.


	7. Mission Complete

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valentina and Samus returned to base to get debriefed and get some rest. Samus did not forget Valentina's promise. And then they have to decide what to do next.

When they got back to the base, they handed in their report, and were immediately told to rest. The debriefing would wait until morning, considering the state the two of them were in. Valentina especially.

They stopped by the infirmary to have her injuries checked out. Just in case any wounds were deeper than they appeared. But it was superficial enough that all they ended up doing was cleaning her down, then re-stating that she needed to get some rest. Part of her had wanted to ask if they could let the injury on her face scar, but she thought better of it. While she could argue it would serve as a reminder, her true motives were more childish.

Samus had hovered nearby the whole time, as if she was still in protective mode.

When they got back to their room, Samus insisted on holding Valentina until she fell asleep. Valentina wasn't sure she'd get much actual rest like that, since just the thought of it was heating her up, but she had promised. Having the larger woman spooning her like that was somehow both calming and exhilarating.

 _There's no way I'll be able to fall asleep like this_ , she thought, but soon enough exhaustion started to set in. She wriggled and turned around, and leaned her head against Samus's chest. Her heartbeat was slightly faster than normal. Samus let Valentina move, but it was clear she was not about to let go. And before she knew it, Valentina was asleep.

It was a deep, dreamless sleep. When she woke up, Samus was still asleep. Still holding her. How long had she stayed awake after Valentina fell asleep? Valentina had also put her arms around Samus while sleeping, and now she wasn't sure if she should stop, or stay that way.

 _Is this okay?_ she asked herself. Her cheeks were probably as pink as her contact suit. While she wasn't sure when it had happened, she was reasonably certain she had fallen in love with Samus. Maybe already from the moment she had seen Samus take her helmet off. Was that okay? How did Samus feel? She was certainly very protective, and Valentina felt like Samus cared for her, but maybe she just saw Valentina as more of a younger sister. Valentina didn't know, and wasn't sure if she dared ask.

The clock in the room beeped, and Valentina managed to get a look at it. An hour until the debriefing. They probably needed that time to get ready. She certainly felt like she could use a cold shower.

"Samus," she said softly, but the blonde didn't stir. "Wake up, Samus," she said a little louder, and this time Samus moved slightly. Though it didn't seem like she had woken up. _She looks surprisingly cute when she's sleeping_ , Valentina thought, then an idea occurred to her. Unable to resist the temptation, she gently raised her arm, and booped Samus's nose. Highly unprofessional, but so was falling in love, probably. "Wake up," she said again.

Finally Samus's eyes slowly opened, and she blinked blearily.

"Huh?" she said, sounding a little confused. "Valentina?" Samus was clearly still half-asleep. Perhaps she had been dreaming.

"I'm here. Good morning," Valentina replied. In return she got squeezed a little tighter. She couldn't stop thinking about how nice it would be to stay this way. "Hey, we need to get up. The debriefing is in an hour, and I'd like to take a shower first," she said, and didn't add that she needed to catch her breath as well. Very reluctantly Samus let her go. Valentina got up, and Samus followed suit. After a shower and a few other preparations, they reported for debriefing.

They were commended on taking out the manufacturing facility, and told that a Federation salvage frigate was securing the facility right at that moment. Hopefully they'd learn more from their findings, like if there were more facilities. Or what the Space Pirates were planning with these devices.

But they were also reprimanded for going in alone, especially considering the state they returned in. It was seen as reckless endangerment of themselves, and Valentina couldn't argue with that. Samus tried to take on the full responsibility, but Valentina protested, and insisted they were both responsible. Even though Samus had been the one who had charged ahead, Valentina didn't want her to suffer the whole punishment alone. They were in this together.

Turned out the punishment wasn't that severe. The reprimand was the worst of it. That would likely be noted on their records. And while they didn't get any official suspension, they were basically ordered to take two weeks off as vacation. Barring any galactic-scale emergency, they would not be assigned any missions for the next two weeks, and they were free to leave the base. In fact, they were encouraged to.

Once they left the briefing room, Samus started apologising again. Both for getting them reprimanded, and for taking so long to set off the second bomb at the facility. Space Pirates had charged in on her end too, and she'd had to take them down before she was able to set it up. Valentina wanted to ask about a couple of things, like if Samus had really turned into a ball, and what that explosive she had used to take out the Pirates was. But maybe that was best left for later.

"Don't worry so much about the 'could haves' and 'might haves', Samus," Valentina said with a smile. "We made it out okay, and that's the important thing." She spun around, then spread her arms wide. "Look at me, I'm okay!" Samus cracked a slight smile at that, and it was enough to make Valentina's heart soar.

"Alright. I guess I'll have to focus on doing better next time," Samus said as they resumed walking.

"Next time? You're going to drag me into danger again?" Valentina asked jokingly, and Samus's cheeks gained just a hint of colour.

"Er... ah... I didn't mean- I- um... p-probably," she conceded, and Valentina suppressed the urge to giggle. Very unbefitting of a GalFed space cadet.

"Well, that comes with the job," Valentina said. "Even if we weren't partners, I'd still have to face danger. But I'm glad we can do it together," she added earnestly. They walked in silence for a short while.

"Still-" Samus started saying, but Valentina cut her off.

"Hey, if you really want to make it up to me, how about buying me dinner?" she suggested, and smiled at Samus.

"Huh? But food is free at the base," Samus replied in confusion.

"No, not here," Valentina said, shaking her head. "Let's go somewhere nice. We have two weeks, after all, and you probably know more places than me. Then you can buy me dinner." She knew she was pushing it here. If Samus wasn't interested, that would be crushing.

"Well, maybe I do, but I wasn't really paying attention to those things," Samus said. Valentina pondered once more what Samus's life had been like before. Maybe she would be more willing to answer such questions now. "I may have a couple of candidates. Let's talk more about it back in our room." The walk back was brisk.

Samus had visited several places, though usually for work. She hadn't done much in terms of leisure. But there were a couple of places she could remember liking, and together they selected a location to go to. Valentina hadn't been to any of the places Samus suggested, but she had heard of one of them, and that it was nice, so that's where they were going. She had never had cause to go to a place like that on her own, but now...

Now she was looking forward to going somewhere with her crush. Who knows what could happen? Maybe she'd even be able to tell her how she felt. Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took a while to update again. Been hitting more writer's blocks with this than I expected, not to mention the other writing ideas I've been tempted away by. But now I have come to the end of this particular story.   
> I had fun with it, and I don't rule out maybe revisiting this setting. But for now this is the end.


End file.
